On Saturday, we met a couple of moms with children under 3 and they were already considering homeschooling. One mom had even researched SelfDesign so it was fun to share what Ethan has been doing and how much we’ve enjoyed unschooling.

We’re quite proud of Ethan and we are so happy that he’s far exceeded his grade level. I think that any child who is given the time and freedom to explore and learn like Ethan is doing can easily go beyond their grade level because children love to learn.

We just need to give them the platform and freedom to do so.

I know that’s not practical for every family but I would certainly encourage families to look into homeschooling as an option if they can make it work.

Anyway, onto Ethan’s week…

March 18

Ethan was working on an equation for calculating how many cubes there would be in one of his Rubik’s Cubes and he was back at it again this morning. One thing about unschooling is that if Ethan is interested in something, he’ll work on it until bedtime and then start right back up in the morning.

The Story Cubes have been a great tool for helping Ethan practice his writing. In this one, he purposely wrote with spelling mistakes to make the story more fun/difficult to read.

Ethan worked on a two-point perspective drawing

My parents came over for brunch and Ethan brought out his drawings to show them.

Ethan took the brunch order from each person.

Ethan solved his 5x5x5 Rubik’s Cube and said that he’d like to get a new one that’s stickerless because the stickers on his cube are coming off. So Dong Eun made a deal with him that he had to solve all his cubes and then we would get him a new stickerless 5x5x5 cube.

I’ve been looking for an alarm system for my parents and one of the devices we looked at displayed how long the battery will last in hours. We wanted to know how many days that would be so we had Ethan do the calculation.

He knew right away to divide the total number of hours by 24 to get the number of days, which worked out to exactly 365.

Once the grandparents had gone home, Ethan watched a video about crocodiles on Discovery Education.

And he got in some violin practice. He doesn’t like it when we photograph him playing because he says it’s distracting 🙂

He was very excited when “The Humongous Book of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra Problems” was delivered today. We got him this book as a supplement to the helping your kids with math book.

This new book is more detailed in its descriptions and shows step-by-step how to solve over 800 math problems. Ethan will likely find this book helpful in terms of jumping to a certain section and practicing whatever looks interesting, such as multiplying fractions.

Ethan was playing around with hugging himself and holding his hands.

Then he got into more serious things, like creating a solar system around a star using Universe Sandbox.

He switched gears to working on his 4x4x4 cube and watched a tutorial because he couldn’t remember certain things needed to solve this cube.

March 19

Ethan started his morning with a new story about a turtle. The turtle visited a place that didn’t allow turtles, but this rule was changed and the turtle was happy. Basically, this is the no pet bylaw we currently have in our building 🙂

Along with the story, he spent some time working on the 5x5x5 Rubik’s Cube and he also read the DIY mini weapons book.

Ethan saw these unusual wrinkles in a balloon. He made new wrinkles and was fascinated by how a deflated balloon could do this.

Later that morning, he met up with his friend and liitle brother for some play time at the beach.

They worked on building rock towers.

And different rock sculptures.

Ethan used his pavement chalk and some water to paint a happy face onto a rock.

At home, Ethan played with the alphabet cookies we got from IKEA and had fun spelling different words from the same letters.

Ethan and his buddy had more fun with bubbles by blowing them out our window.

They also enjoyed playing chess together.

While his friend was still here, Ethan practiced violin.

He then used his Story Cubes and wrote a new story about rainbows. He’s been enjoying writing, even though he limits himself to just a single page! We’re asking him questions about how the characters feel and what other details he could add.

I’m sure he’ll be more descriptive as he practices more and wants to express himself in greater detail.

Ethan enjoyed playing with his friend’s little brother.

March 20

He’s a man on a mission! The first thing he did this morning was work on another cube, which happened to be the 4×4. He then decided that today would be Cube Day and asked us to invite some of his friends over, so that would happen later today.

We registered Ethan for a workshop at the Vancouver Public Library that was about discovering your inner super hero. What it turned out to be was the kids taking photos against a green screen and learning how to use Photoshop to replace the background with one of their choosing.

Ethan designed this background and printed it out to bring home.

At home, Ethan went through his cube collection to prepare for Cube Day with is friends. He arranged the cubes from easiest to most difficult to solve, which is from left to right in this photo.

Cube Day wasn’t just about cubing since most of his friends are still learning how to solve the 3×3 cube. Here they are playing UNO.

Cube Day also turned into time at the playground!

And it was another chance to create a track to run through.

That night, Ethan practiced his violin, which he’s been really improving with the daily practice.

He then read about inequalities in the Humongous Book of Math.

And he finished the day reading the pencil drawing book.

March 21

Ethan started the morning by reading the pencil drawing book he got from the library. He’s been very interested in this particular book.

After breakfast, he practiced playing the violin.

He then worked on exponents using the Korean version of Murderous Maths.

He was curious about who invented Roman numerals and did a Google search for the answer. He learned about Roman numerals before he was curious if they were invented by the Romans.

While reading the pencil drawing book, he found out about a star that is basically a 10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond because it’s made of crystallized carbon.

This led to Ethan asking how big a carat is so we found this image online to help him picture different carat sizes.

Ethan started solving a different cube as he works his way through his cube collection.

He found out that the fisher cube, which he thought was hard to solve, was just like the regular 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube, so he was able to solve this one in short order.

Next up was the ivy cube, a cube he’s had difficulty solving but he was able to complete it with some help from YouTube.

We headed to the library to pick up some books on hold and Ethan found some others he liked, too.

But he’s on a bit of a mission to solve all his cubes so he can get a new 5x5x5 cube; therefore, he decided to work on the big daddy, the 7x7x7. He’s solved this one before but it’s the most challenging cube he has.

After the library, Ethan played outside for over two hours with his friend and little brother. Ethan and his friend made an elaborate pattern in the playground and played different games that involved following the pattern.

Back at home, he tried a non-Newtonian fluid experiment with cornstarch and water that he found in a new book he borrowed.

He ended up putting the fluid into a balloon to make a stress relief toy.

Ethan read about the different temperatures of a candle flame and we were surprised by just how hot a small flame can be. We also talked about how we can use a candle to stay warm inside a vehicle and that we did that during our road trip.

One of the new books from the library is filled with fun science experiments to try.

Ethan hasn’t forgotten about coding! This is a book he’s borrowed before but got it again.

March 22

In the morning, Ethan downloaded a Rubik’s Cube timer app and practiced solving the 3×3 and 2×2 cubes.

At breakfast, he was learning how to code a new type of game where you shoot at objects.

Since figuring out that this fisher cube was like a 3×3 cube, he experimented with creating a checkerboard pattern and was able to do it.

Ethan was registered for another class at the Vancouver Public Library and this time, it was a stop motion video class using iPads.

Here’s the video…

In a book called How Stuff Works, Ethan read about these burrs and how they work. Ethan had first-hand experience with burrs during our road trip when he got some stuck on his shoes and pants in New Brunswick… or maybe it was PEI?

Ethan made a new video about how to solve the 3×3 Rubik’s Cube…

Ethan spent some time drawing his own maze while the video was uploading.

Then he listened to some French language CD courses we borrowed from the library.

He wrote a funny story about what a Rubik’s Cube is.

And finished the day by reading a couple chapters from Neil Degrasse Tyson’s book called “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.”

March 23

This morning, Ethan put all his cubes on the coffee table to get a visual inventory of what he has.

Inside this jar are cards from his good behaviour cards. He calculated how many cards he needs to get in order to get the present 🙂

Working on Universe Sandbox has been a lot of fun for Ethan because of the freedom to experiment with gravity on different objects.

He made a shooting game where you angle the arrow and shoot them to pop the balloons.

He then went to work on another cube. Notice the egg carton under his laptop? That was something he learned about that helps keep your laptop cooler.

Ethan practiced converting fractions to decimals and to percentages. He found this section in his math book and wanted to try it. He printed out a worksheet to test himself. It wasn’t easy but he started to get the hang of it.

He also practiced some French lessons.

And tried to set a new personal best for solving the Rubik’s Cube and the 2×2 cube.

Time to play outside with his friend.

He solved the 5×5 cube again.

And built towers from his cubes.

He told us about how you can see one million granules of sugar.

He told us about how long it would take to count to a million if you counted one number per second. Then he told us about how long it would take to count to one billion. These things contribute to his love of numbers and math, so we love hearing these things.

Ethan started writing in his journal again and here was the latest entry. He talked about using the computer and Universe Sandbox and how happy he was to have sushi for dinner.

March 24

Ethan woke up and was working on another cube. He’s very determined to solve all of his cubes in as short a time as possible.

At breakfast, he read the Math Quest book, the one that’s like a choose your own adventure but with math problems.

After breakfast, we went to Stanley Park because we were registered for a Nature Club event.

It turned out there were only three kids, but the other two were about 2 1/2 years old. Their moms were both quite interested in homeschooling so I shared some of our experiences with SelfDesign and unschooling. It’s pretty cool how quite a few parents are considering homeschooling as an option.

It was good for Ethan to spend time with younger kids like this, as he’s learning to be more patient and understanding of how little kids behave.

For example, shortly after he made a tunnel in the sand, the two little ones came over and one of them accidentally crushed Ethan’s tunnel.

Very interestingly, we spotted a beaver swimming by. Odd because we weren’t at a river or lake, but out in Burrard Inlet. It definitely wasn’t an otter because I saw it before it went in the water. Hope he wasn’t lost or anything like that.

Snack time. Pamela, the group leader, gave us a challenging riddle about what things can go through a “green glass door.” It took a while but Ethan eventually figured it out with some hints.

Next, we went into the forest and spotted this very unusual tree.

And the tree was great for climbing! One of the little kids tried to climb it but got frustrated when he couldn’t make it up 🙂

More exploring and then all the kids worked together to build a sort of house with sticks.

Nice to see Ethan interacting with the little ones.

They obviously liked being around Ethan because they held his hands to walk back from our adventure.

After we came home, Ethan worked on his 3×3 cube solving speed before spending the afternoon with a friend.

When he finally returned in the early evening, he brought Dong Eun a treat… Pistachios, which are her favourite.

Ethan wanted to try coding a new game with an airplane and was able to complete it in about 30 minutes. He’s become much more proficient at coding in Scratch in only a short time, but that’s the great thing about unschooling…all the time to explore and deep dive into a topic.

He solved the 7x7x7 cube! He was very determined to solve this one and found some tricks to help him.

He used techniques from solving other cubes to help him solve certain parts of the cube. He was able to combine knowledge from those other cubes in a new way to help him solve the 7×7. Pretty cool!

And he also wrote a journal entry for today, which was a recap of his day with a repeating loop that goes back to how much fun he had at his friend’s place.

Before bed, he wanted to try some yoga and worked on his plank pose and transition to upward facing dog.

What a week…again! When I prepare these posts and look back at all the things Ethan has done, it’s quite astounding.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I was talking to a couple of moms about homeschooling, and unschooling in particular, and it struck me how fortunate we are to have this type of learning experience available for Ethan.

Sure, it hasn’t always been easy and we have our occasional challenges, but overall, it’s been such an amazing experience for Ethan and for us.

Until next week!

One thing that’s happened with Ethan unschooling is that it’s become something very exciting to talk about and share with other families who are considering homeschooling. I’m not sure they really want to hear how well Ethan is doing but it seems like I’m doing him an injustice by not sharing in greater detail.

On Saturday, we met a couple of moms with children under 3 and they were already considering homeschooling. One mom had even researched SelfDesign so it was fun to share what Ethan has been doing and how much we’ve enjoyed unschooling.

We’re quite proud of Ethan and we are so happy that he’s far exceeded his grade level. I think that any child who is given the time and freedom to explore and learn like Ethan is doing can easily go beyond their grade level because children love to learn.

We just need to give them the platform and freedom to do so.

I know that’s not practical for every family but I would certainly encourage families to look into homeschooling as an option if they can make it work.

Anyway, onto Ethan’s week…

The idea that humans be them babies, children or adults are natural learners is the basis of the philosophy of Self Design. As an early childhood educator my job was to create an environment in which young children could learn, grow and thrive. It was primarily play based which means children self select whatever game, toys, blocks, art they want to do at any given time for as long as they need to because that is how they learn. This is the premise for most early childhood education and it is based on brain research. We learn everything as babies through play, mimicking  and experience be it walking, eating, cause and effect, language…everything. It takes an interactive, loving, safe physical, emotional and spiritual environment full of positive social relationships to raise a healthy and bright child. Much of this natural child-initiated learning is stifled when they enter traditional schools at the age of five or so. I often wondered how could we create schools/learning which extend this natural learning and what would it look like? I found this model in Self Design. When families are willing to trust their child and let go while providing enough structure and opportunity the results are truly awe inspiring! I think you are recognizing  Ethan shining in the wonderful unschooling/homeschooling experience you have provided. The love of learning that is innate in humanity is expressing itself in your son and yes you have much to celebrate and be proud of. Thank you for sharing your experience and inspiring other families to explore these possibilities with their own children.

In terms of this week specifically I am going to respond to a few of the highlights I pulled out. You offer so much that I am not able to respond to it all, but rest assured I take it all in, read and read your post a few times in order to gather my thoughts about what would be the most helpful to reflect back to you or what resources I could offer. Honestly, I think Ethan is on such a positive roll. He is self designing his days, diving deeply into anything and everything in which he is interested and like you said learning from morning till night. What else could one ask for as an educator or facilitator of learning?  I find him to have a great balance of activities too. He plays outside, practices violin, writes stories, does research, makes moveis to teach others, codes, explores math, makes art….I don’t really know what to offer sometimes, I just really trust Ethan’s process and want to continue to lead him guide his own learning. I like you am really just trying to deepen my own observation of his learning.

His impressive perspective drawings and his dedication to solving rubic’s cubes really stood out to me this week. I actually have never understood how Rubic’s cubes can be solved and I learned so much from Ethan’s level 1 video. Please thank him for me, it has been a mystery to me for ever 30 years, but I guess I could have hopped on Youtube anytime in the last decade to find out….It is one aspect that I really appreciate about being and LC, my learners’ interests invite me to be curious and research about topics, people, places, ideas that were outside my awareness all together. And it being an online job I have access to so much information right away as I try to catch up to where the learners are…lol. I suppose this is all apart of evolving my own practice and connecting to the growing sharing economy on the planet.

I am so impressed by Ethan exploring and solving percentages, fractions and decimal problems. He is seeing how they are all related and expressions of the same number value, very cool! Does he make other mathematical connections at times between his rubics cube, coding, perspective drawings or math problems? Just wondering..

So the story cubes seem to be a great success with helping prompt Ethan’s creative writing. I am looking for other similar resources which might work for him. I suppose there are other sets for a bit of variety:

I suppose Ethan could even build/create his own story cubes and see how that works as a writing prompt. What do you notice is so effective about this tool for him? It might help me find other similar resources…here are some other ways to use Story Cubes:

A homeschooling mom’s 20 ideas for Story Cubes: http://hspmom.com/20-ways-to-use-rorys-story-cubes/

• Work as a class and ask someone to roll the dice. Show the set of 9 pictures (under a visualiser if available) and ask a child to begin a story using one of the pictures as their starting point. Then, ask a new child to continue the story by including another of the pictures. Repeat until all 9 pictures have been mentioned in the story.
• Work in small groups and have ‘story telling’ sessions where the group works together to tell a story which involves all nine of the pictures.
• Let the children work in pairs. One child rolls the dice and tells a story using the cubes. The other child has to listen and remember the story, then retell it to others in the class.
• Begin a session with a story telling activity based on a roll of the cubes. After, ask the children if they can write the same story down… can they remember what happened?
• Roll the dice and share the nine pictures with the class. Ask all of the children to tell / write a story which includes all of the images. Share the stories at the end of the session and compare them… how were they similar / different?
• Roll two or three of the cubes and ask children to think of a super sentence which involves the pictures shown.
• Give the children a grid with nine boxes on it. Ask the children to roll a set of dice and put one in each box on the grid. They should then tell / write a story which includes the images in the order shown on their grid.
• Roll one of the dice and identify the picture (e.g. plane). Then:
  • Ask the children for words to describe the plane.
  • Think of ways (mnemonics) to help them remember how to spell ‘plane’.
  • Share words that mean the same (synonyms) as plane.
  • Think of words which rhyme with plane.
• Give the children some cube nets and ask them to make their own paper sets of story cubes. Which images would help to make an interesting / exciting story?

Some spring origami ideas for Ethan…not sure if you celebrate easter but might be fun to make some new baskets and rabbits. Click to see youtube videos

Origami Easter Basket Tutorial (Traditional)

Origami: MeiIris’ Easter Origami Basket Tutorial

How to Fold the Origami Easter Bunny

Easter Origami Tutorial: Paper Rabbit / Bunny (Jun Maekawa)

Or maybe some fun new egg shell votive candle ideas, cool upcylcing of those eggshells when he makes his eggza creations:

1. First, make a hole in the top of each egg with a pin or needle; enlarge the holes, and pour out the yolks. Remove the shells to one-third of the way down and clean the shells well (you can use vinegar).
2. Dye shells with food coloring (follow package directions). Nestle shells in a carton.
3. In a double boiler or two pots, melt and tint wax with dye pellets.
4. Cut wire-core wicks to 4 inches long, flatten one end, and fasten in shell with a bit of warm wax.
5. Use a funnel to fill the shells with wax. Let the wax harden, at least 1 to 2 hours. Trim the wicks to 1/4 inch (6mm), and place the candles in ceramic eggcups before lighting.
6. 

The post Unschooling Journal March 18-24, 2018 – Library Activities & Stanley Park Nature Club appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

It wasn’t meant to sound that way. It’s just the truth because it seems like he’s doing something and learning throughout the day.

I mentioned to the mom that when kids come home from school, they don’t want to do anything that seems like formal learning, but that for Ethan, he’s just doing what he likes to do.

Anyway, here’s what Ethan was up to this past week…

February 18th

Last night, at our Chinese New Year’s party, we received this lovely flower and plant. Ethan got something more traditional, as you’ll see.

Ethan received a bunch of cash in lucky red envelopes, a traditional gift for children and single adults. Ethan wanted to take his haul to the bank so a trip to the ATM was put on the day’s schedule.

But first, Ethan spent the morning watching some videos about space and how stars and galaxies collided. He learned that our Milky Way galaxy was on a collision course with our neighbouring galaxy and that this will happen at some point several billions of years from now.

Cleaning up

We had to clean the penthouse unit after last night’s party so Ethan came up to help out, too.

SNOW!

It snowed last night so Ethan helped clear some of the snow from Juju Jr., as we were going to head out later in the day.

But first, we took a walk down to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day.

Lynn Valley Ecology Centre Bug Exploration

Ethan and I went to the Lynn Valley Ecology Centre to go looking for bugs in the forest. The session started with a short talk about what kind of bugs we might find and we also had a look at some of the bugs that make Lynn Valley home.

It was an amazing day to be outside, with the fresh snowfall and sun creating a magical atmosphere.

Under this old log was a spider’s egg sack. We didn’t see the spider but we thought this was just a speck of snow.

Back at the Ecology Centre, we looked at the bugs we collected under a powerful microscope projector called Elmo. Afterwards, there was craft time where the kids made a butterfly from a coffee filter.

Bank run

After leaving Lynn Valley, Ethan deposited his lucky money at the ATM. He got to do the whole depositing process and liked watching his money go in and seeing what his balance was.

Friends came over

We had plans for a few of Ethan’s friends to come over, so the rest of the afternoon and evening were spent playing indoors.

The moms all spent time chatting and getting to know each other.

Once everyone had gone home, Ethan spent the rest of the evening building with his Lego.

February 19th

Ethan started the day by working on book 18 and book 19 of the Adventures of a Piece of Paper series.

Next was an assignment from Ethan’s mindfulness class. The students had to think of words that describe themselves, then make a word collage. Here were some of the words Ethan first came up with.

And here is Ethan working on the collage.

Getting out

It was a nice day out, so Ethan and Dong Eun spent some time at the beach and they also went to the library.

At the library, Ethan found another coding book.

On the way home, Ethan saw a robin.

Making Pac Man

Ethan was excited to get home and start coding. He planned to make a Pac Man game and tackled this project head-on.

Ethan used a combination of videos and reading to make his own version of Pac Man. He had to map out how each character moves by inputting the exact coordinates where the characters should move to.

Who is Ethan?

Ethan spent the evening completing his mindfulness project. We had a few more suggestions for him, so he added several more words.

Ethan wound up the day by listening to and audiobook version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We discovered that we can borrow ebooks and audiobooks via OverDrive and our local library account.

February 20th

Ethan started the day with a book, which is normal. Today, it was a science project book, although he didn’t try an experiment today.

Time to head out for violin class.

He had taekwondo and and then in mindfulness class, they completed the word collage.

Ethan really likes violin class and wanted to play for us the new song he learned. He got a bit frustrated when he couldn’t play the song. We talked to him about how it was the first time he learned it and that he needs to practice to play it well.

He’s done this on other occasions, too. He wants to do things well but forgets that we all start from not being good and improving.

Before bedtime, Ethan watched a couple math videos to learn about Algebraic equations. He likes to learn new things and it’s great there are resources like Kahn Academy to satisfy his curiosity.

February 21st

Today, Ethan asked what material has the highest melting point. We did some Googling and found this from ASM International:

“Computations show that a material made with just the right amounts of hafnium, nitrogen, and carbon would have a melting point of more than 4400 K (7460°F). That’s about two-thirds the temperature at the surface of the sun and 200 K higher than the highest melting point ever recorded experimentally.”

Another story mentioned that the above material could be used to make something like the comic book character Wolverine’s adamantium that’s fused to his bones. Very cool.

We also found out that the element with the highest melting point is carbon at 3500℃!

After watching the algebra videos last night, Ethan wanted to do some practice, so he made some equations in his notebook.

Ethan then spent the day at nature school. They learned about tying knots and made a big slingshot to launch snowballs with.

Ethan wanted to show us one of the knots he learned. The knot is used for securing things so you can pull them and easily untie the knot after. Very cool.

Ethan spent the evening watching more math videos.

Tonight, Ethan played the new song he learned and was much improved. Dong Eun says he has high expectations of himself, which is why he was getting frustrated the day before.

Something cool is that he remembers how to play the songs by heart after one lesson. He obviously loves playing violin and we think his teacher has a lot to do with it.

We started reading “The Borrowers” tonight because we’d like Ethan to read more of the classics. He seemed interested in the story so we’ll see how it goes.

February 22nd

This morning, it was Ethan preparing his own breakfast… Eggza!

He also made some apple and carrot juice for everyone.

Such a beautiful day this morning.

We went to the library after Ethan’s swimming lesson. At the library, he likes to read comics because he doesn’t read them as much at home. I think this is because we’re always asking him to read classics or something educational, so I think he enjoys this little break from those other books.

Ethan borrowed a couple of cool books on how to make mini weapons, like a catapult.

So he made one to try out and it worked awesome.

He also tried another catapult design but the first one could shoot much further.

Just letting the world know that he loves pi 🙂

Ethan also worked on his own comic book.

And wound up the night listening to Harry Potter and trying to follow along with the ebook.

February 23rd

Today was day two of a workshop at Science World about energy, so Ethan was finishing up some research he had to do prior to the workshop.

He had to measure how far a elastic could fly based on how far back you pulled the elastic.

Then he had to write out his answers.

He had to make a graph showing his data, so he started by looking up graphs and how data was mapped out.

He also wanted to demonstrate how important brackets are when doing calculations.

First graphical representation of the data.

Plotting out the average of how far the rubber band flew.

At Science World, the workshop only had a few participants so Ethan really enjoyed the experience. Each child shared their results with the instructor.

The instructors briefly reviewed what they talked about at last week’s session and then they moved onto some hands-on experiments with energy.

This was a Rube Goldberg-style video showing how energy can be transferred. After watching the video, the kids tried to make their own Rube Goldberg-style project.

After the workshop, we explored the new “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” exhibit.

The Einstein made from toast portrait was very cool.

This suit is for exploring caves with giant crystals. Ethan’s inside the suit!

This room had a camera that dynamically turned your movements into living art. Ethan loved this.

Time to go home. Beautiful out with the snow falling.

Back home, Ethan tried some problems in his math workbook to see where he’s at, in terms of his math knowledge and ability.

He liked the “test” but was a little stumped by the word problems.

Here, Ethan and Dong Eun are visualizing the word problem to help him wrap his head around how to solve it. We like this part of homeschooling where Ethan can take his time and work through things he finds challenging.

We suggested to Ethan that instead of wondering what to do each day, he can plan out what he wants to do the night before. So here’s what he came up with.

He then spent the rest of the night working on coding a new game using Scratch.

February 24th

Saturday! What an amazing past few days it’s been here. The sun has been out and with the snow on the ground, has created this beautiful scenery for us to enjoy.

Ethan started the day practicing violin and taekwondo, working through his to-do list. We think he’s just trying to finish this stuff early so he can work on his computer, but we’ll see.

Stanley Park Nature Walk

We registered for a nature walk to learn about animal habitats in Stanley Park. The snow and sun made for a magical time.

But it started with some good old-fashioned snowball throwing using the lamp post as a target. The instructor, Jordan, was awesome and made the experience fun and memorable for us all.

Next, they built a snowman for the bus stop.

Time to walk towards Lumberman’s Arch and check out potential creature habitats.

Jordan showed us a spot where she saw some possible locations for burrows.

A muffin tin! Jordan wondered why she had a muffin tin in her backpack, but it turned out to be a great tool for making snow muffins that could line the opening to the burrow.

Some acorns, twigs and leaves and you’ve got yourself a new home for a forest creature.

Nearby was a fort someone had made previously. We went in and made a shelter for other animals to use.

On the way to the seawall, Ethan and Dong Eun couldn’t help but make big snowballs with all the fresh snow that had fallen.

And we turned those snowballs into a giant snowman who Ethan named Fluffy.

Ethan found the sticks to make Fluffy’s face. What a smile!

Fluffy was done and there were people taking selfies with him soon after we left.

At the seawall, Ethan, Jordan and Dong Eun had some fun throwing snowballs into the ocean and watching them disintegrate and melt away.

We were soon joined by one other boy, but Ethan was already busy making some snow furniture.

An armchair seemed like the perfect thing after playing with the snow.

The other boy, who was almost 4-years old, helped make some “food” while Ethan made more furniture.

About to dig in and have some snow muffins. Who knew a muffin tray could be so useful in the snow!

Ethan made a snow angel. The snow and the park were a perfect setting.

On the way back, we found Fluffy but he had been knocked over. Undeterred, we rebuilt him.

We gave him a sturdier, bigger head and a thicker neck. We also put his name with a hashtag so that people can see that he’s cared about. Hope he puts a smile on others like he did for us.

Back home, Ethan rested for most of the day and watched math tutorial videos on Kahn Academy.

He then did some diary writing about his day.

The rest of the evening, Ethan worked on coding his latest game. In this one, you simply move a blue ball around, while avoiding the red ones.

What was neat about his game was that he made it for Dong Eun and I. He had a message at the beginning of the game were he said it was for his beloved parents. Sweet boy. So proud of him.

To finish up the day, Ethan completed his final task, which was making a video. He made a video about how to make a craft stick catapult.

And that was our week of unschooling. Ethan really did a lot but he was a little unsure about what to do on a couple of days.

We let him work through it, but suggested that he set up a schedule, which really helped. He can better visualize what to do the next day, while also learning to manage his time so he gets everything on his to-do list done.

Hopefully, he’ll carry on with the list and maintain this habit.

I apologize for the late response. There is always so much to digest and read about in Ethan’s week. Thank you again for the detailed and rich Observation for Learning with all of the photos. I am way up here at 2100m in a winter wonderland wilderness. It is so wild that I even have WIFI to write this. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until I am back in Nelson to send you some photos. I will do so in the week 26. It sounds like Ethan has been enjoying all of the recent snow in Vancouver! I will write to him and tell him about my snow adventures here. It is some of the coldest fluffiest deepest snow, up to my waist that I have ever skiied. Valhalla means heaven and it surely does feel that way. 

I get such a clear picture of Ethan’s week and all of the natural and inspired learning which is unfolding for him. 

It sounds like he has such a great balance of outdoor and nature adventures such as Lynn Canyon and the nature program he attends with the indoor activities of coding, reading and watching educational videos. He also has found a dynamic balance between hands-on activities like building all the models and small machines he is doing along with written work. 

His writing is really taking off on its own accord as well. I remember how concerned you were about how you were going to get him to write and how dry you were finding worksheets and assignments. Now look at ethan, he is working on his 18th and 19th Adventure of a Piece of Paper books and making his own comic books!! 

I wonder if you would like to try to get him to work on some non-fiction writing as well? Here are a few ideas he might be able to experiment with. He can pick any topic, space or bugs might be a good place to start based on his interests as well. 

I have another student who is also really enjoying Algebra on the Kahn Academy site, but he is in grade 8! I am so impressed with where Ethan’s passion for math and numbers is taking him. 

I have one more idea, in terms of his recent experimentation with making a daily list or schedule. It might be interesting to revisit his learning plan and see if he wants to make a monthly or seasonal “to learn list.” Also let me know if there are other things he would like to add to his mind map. 

Sending you sunny joy from the mountain tops. 

Natasha

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